Aging bull: Jason still friendly with Cards

ST. LOUIS — Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward has a strong opinion about — if not a message for — all those Cardinals fans who booed him Monday night in his return to Busch Stadium.

“People are going to do what they want to do; everybody is entitled to their opinion,” said Heyward, who turned down a 10- year, $ 200 million deal from the Cardinals to take the Cubs’ eightyear, $ 184 million offer.

“If somebody boos me, that means they were not happy to see me leave. So I kind of like that people weren’t happy to see me leave something. That’s a good thing.”

Sort of. Judging by Twit- ter comments to some of those remarks and the relentlessness of the vitriol, it seemed to have more to do with some of the perceived shots Heyward took at his onetime Cards teammates.

“You’ve got to look at age; you’ve got to look at how fast the team’s changing and how soon those changes may come about,” he said during his introductory news conference. “You’ve got Yadi [ Molina], who’s going to be done in two years maybe; you’ve got Matt Holliday, who’s probably going to be done soon. . . . [ Adam] Wainwright is probably going to be done in three or four years. I think that’s when his contract is up.

“I felt if I were to look up in three years and see a com- pletely different team, that would be difficult for me.”

Cards manager Mike Matheny and players bristled at the comments. Heyward said the words were taken out of context. He didn’t mean to say the Cards were old as much as contract statuses would come into play.

“We’re still friends,” said Heyward, who spoke glowingly of his season in St. Louis. “Everybody’s still cool.”

NOTE: Kyle Schwarber, who tore two ligaments in his left knee in an outfield collision April 7, is to have surgery this week.